Holidays reachable by train
Green places to stay
Kahawa Shamba, Tanzania
Fair Trade Fortnight is showing how producers in developing countries can get a fairer deal, but as there's no such international certification system in the travel industry, you have to look carefully if you want to find a holiday that puts something back into local communities...
Kahawa Shamba ("coffee farm" in Swahili) is a group of traditional huts run by the Chagga people in their village by the foothills of Kilimanjaro. They set up this small-scale tourism enterprise with help from the Department for International Development, development charity Twin, the fair trade coffee company Cafédirect and the fair trade travel operator Tribes Travel.
Kahawa Shamba's huts are made of vines from the nearby forest and thatched with dried banana-leaf, and have twin wrought-iron beds with ensuite showers and locally made soaps.
Breakfast is served in a communal dining hut overlooking a river gorge and you can have a traditional dinner in a local home. There are guided walks as well as horse-riding along the river valley.
· US$110pp full-board. tribes.co.uk, 01728 685971.
This article, by Richard Hammond, was first published in the Guardian
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Kahawa Shamba means
Kahawa Shamba means ‘Coffee Farm’ in Swahili. Set in the beautiful foothills of Kilimanjaro, on a ridge overlooking the Weruweru Gorge, Kahawa Shamba is a community-based project implemented to bring in extra income via tourism to the small-scale coffee farmers in the area. Tribes has been instrumental in developing the project along with partners Cafédirect, the charity Twin and the British government department DFID (Dept for International Development).
Kahawa Shamba is hosted by local families who look after the guests, cook the food and make sure that a stay there is very comfortable. Accommodation is of a basic yet good standard in chalets based on the traditional architecture of the local Chagga tribe, each thatched with banana leaves. All have twin wrought iron beds with linen, and the ensuite bathrooms have western style showers and toilets. This gives an authentic experience of what life is like for the farmers in the region while retaining some of the comforts of home. Recreating these huts, albeit with appropriate modifications, has renewed an interest in traditions and architecture of the region that was fast declining in favour of breeze-blocks and tin roofs.
The surrounding area is lush and fertile, with abundant valleys and gorges, and on a clear day there is an amazing view of Kilimanjaro’s summit – Kibo peak. It is ideal country for exploring on foot, and a variety of guided walks are available, varying in duration from 1 hour up to 2 days. These include trips along the river valley, cultural tours (including traditional huts and a blacksmith) and visits to nearby caves once used by the Chagga to shelter from Maasai raiders. An alternative to walking is to explore the area on horseback, on rides of either half a day or a full day. Rather unexpectedly, the river also offers some trout fishing as trout were introduced to these waters back in colonial times. Guests can visit coffee farmers in their homesteads to learn and practice coffee production and processing.
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